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Denmark’s centrist government wants to spend 38 billion kroner (5.6 billion US dollars) over the next decade to modernize military facilities, refurbish dilapidated buildings, increase the number of soldiers and upgrade outdated computer systems.
Acting Defense Minister Trols Lund Poulsen called it an “extremely dangerous situation” and said on Thursday that previous governments and senior defense officials had not prioritized spending money on such facilities.
“They are all responsible for the fact that we got to this situation,” he said.
“For many years, the security policy situation has exhausted the armed forces,” said Lund Poulsen.
“We now face a major task of restoring the foundations of the armed forces before we build on top of them.”
We are short of soldiers and many of the buildings are not modern or dilapidated. “The same applies to part of our equipment and computer systems,” General Flemming Lintner, head of the armed forces of Denmark, a member of NATO, said at the press conference.
A military base north of Copenhagen has problems with mold and lack of maintenance.
TV2 reports that the heating in the offices does not work and sometimes there is no hot water for showers or very low water pressure.
Oliver Hansen, a spokesman for the enlisted soldiers, told TV2 that soldiers should be able to endure difficult conditions in the field but “not in the barracks”. The Danish Work Environment Agency, which carries out inspections to see if health and safety rules are being adhered to in workplaces, has issued several warnings to the armed forces.
The army is also suffering from a shortage of soldiers to replace those stationed abroad.
Of the 38 billion kronor, the government said, 11 billion kronor (US$1.6 billion) should be used for new investments.
It did not give details of the money that should be spent.
Denmark’s three-party coalition government consists of the center-left Social Democratic Party, the center-right Liberal Party, and the moderate Centrist Party.
The alliance aims to hit NATO’s target of spending 2 percent of GDP on military budgets by 2030, in part as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the 38 billion kroner will count towards that, public broadcaster DR reported.
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